Sprinklings of history, a smidgen of genealogy, a dash of art & a dusting of architecture, all mixed together with my eccentric fascinations

20 October 2014

England: Heavenly history in Alfriston

For a non-religious
person I visit a lot of churches. But how could I not visit this one? It was a
lovely walk to get there. It sits on an ancient Saxon religious site and has a
barrow in the churchyard. The building dates from the 12th century and is a
Grade I listed building of national importance, because it’s the only church in
the world to have murals by painters from the Bloomsbury
set adorning its walls. St Michael and All Angels Church in Berwick is simply
gorgeous!

The barrow in the churchyard

We drove to the little
town of Alfriston
then walked a footpath, part of the Vanguard
Way, to get there – it seemed an appropriate way
to reach such an ancient place and it was easy to imagine ancient man walking
that same trackway to reach their sacred site on the hilltop.

Inside, the church has
some interesting features – the Saxon font may pre-date the church, there are
grooves in one wall which are thought to have been made in the 14th century by
men sharpening their arrow heads, and the clear glass windows in the north and
south aisles are unusual and distinctive. But it’s the 20th-century murals that
draw most visitors to this place and they are quite simply outstanding.

Painted during the
Second World War by Bloomsbury artists Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and her son
Quentin Bell, the murals continued, or perhaps revived a long tradition of
painted interiors in Sussex
churches. Inspired by the frescoes of Renaissance Italy and modelled on the
painters themselves, their friends and local people, the murals are a
refreshing change from the gloom of many small church interiors. Indeed, one
Professor Reilly, who visited soon after the paintings were finished, said he
felt like he was: ‘stepping out of a foggy England
into Italy.
I felt such a happy heavenly feeling as I sat there.’

With our spirits thus
enlightened with happy and heavenly feelings, we walked back to Alfriston via a
rather muddy path through the huge rolling farmlands of the South
Downs, and sat down to tea and rather delicious cakes at the
Badger Café. Refreshed and replete, we explored the town, coming after a short
time to the green and the Church
of St Andrew.

This is another ancient
church, founded around 1360 and built in a massive cruciform shape on a raised
mound on the village green known as the Tye. It made me think that this church also
sits on an ancient Saxon site but the church’s construction is a bit of a mystery, as there are no records to explain who commissioned and financed such
a grand edifice in such a small village.

Next to the church sits
the Chapel House, the first house ever to be taken under the wing of the
National Trust, bought from Michelham Priory for £10 in 1896. The oldest parts were built
around 1350 and are typical of a timber-framed ‘Wealden Hall’ house. But, like so many old buildings, this one has
evolved over time: there’s a parlour dating from the mid-16th century; a hall,
built shortly after the Black Death of 1348 by a yeoman farmer; the corridor
was added in the 18th century; and the reading room is part of the original
house. I was particularly impressed by the long-wheat-straw-thatched roof, as I
suppose I should be given it cost £100,000 to be re-thatched back in 2005, and
the gardens, laid out in the 1920s by Sir Robert Witt, were delightful.

A wander along Alfriston’s
main street revealed more interesting historic buildings. Wingrove House,
according to the plaque on the wall, is ‘a colonial style building from 1870,
used as accommodation by trainer Harry Batho, racing manager to Horatio Bottomley’ (an interesting character indeed). The house is now a ‘restaurant and rooms’,
and looks like rather a nice spot for a weekend treat.

The Old Farmhouse is a 17th-century
rebuild of the southern wing of a 14th century hall house, one of the oldest
ranges of buildings in the village. The Steamer Inn dates from the 15th century
and was an inn during the 19th century, though lost its licence in 1920.

Alfriston still has
several characterful public houses to chose from, however. The Star Inn is my
favourite, if only for its external decoration. It was rebuilt in the early
16th century, possibly on the site of an earlier rest house for pilgrims on
their way to the shrine of St Richard in Chichester.
The Red Lion figurehead comes from a warship that probably sank at the Battle
of Beachy Head in 1690.

The George Inn also has
a long history, having first received its liquor licence in 1397, and the Smugglers Inn was the home of
Stanton Collins, leader of the Alfriston gang of smugglers in the early 19th
century. It boasts 21 rooms, 48 doors and 6 staircases. Its sign tells: ‘The
front bay was successfully restored, revealing its late 16th century origins,
after near destruction by a car in 2005.’

Obviously, with a very
small village and three pubs serving drinks, drunk-driving destruction could
well be a problem. But don’t let that put you off a visit. It’s a charming wee
place, with history on display, churches to be admired, Downs
to be walked and beer to be drunk!

About Me

I am a writer and photographer; project
manager and English teacher; knitter and genealogist; fungi forayer and bird
watcher; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and child sponsor; tree
lover and cat person; researcher and blogger; nemophilist; and traveller.